Town Square

Hacker Dojo launches Kickstarter campaign

Original post made
on Jul 13, 2012

Mountain View's open community of computer programmers and engineers could very well be forced out of town if Hacker Dojo can't make a slew of fixes to its Whisman Road building within the next five months.

Posted by Old Ben
a resident of Shoreline West
on Jul 13, 2012 at 4:45 pm

Way to go, Mayberry, er, uh, MOUNTAIN VIEW! Do everything you can to stifle this bright and shining thing that inspires creativity and innovation! Just keep doing what you're doing, Mountain View, and very soon you'll be Flint, Michigan, or better yet, Camden, New Jersey.

Don't forget to shovel money at HSR (How to Scam Revenue) while you're at it, and micromanage every attempt at new enterprise. YOU CAN DO IT!

Posted by sean
a resident of Sylvan Park
on Jul 15, 2012 at 11:21 amsean is a registered user.

Tim, I'm not sure how familiar you are with the "Dojo" but from what I gather its a place for "Pirates, and Hackers". The uploading of illegal copyrighted material and hacking of websites to gather personal information from protected servers. For $100 a month you get 24 hour access to this place, how great and innovative can it be? Also why should "they" get a pass? Do me a favor and go to Yelp and read the reviews, I have known a couple people who paid for 1 month access but maybe you have not, this is not place you think it is.

Posted by Geo
a resident of another community
on Jul 15, 2012 at 4:50 pm

Sean, you have Hacker Dojo wrong. It's a community center for creatives, hackers, and thinkers.

In tech parlance, hacker refers to someone who self-learns and creates innovative solutions to hard problems. It has nothing to do with computer crime, other than that the very first people who figured out how to break into computers were also self-learning and creating innovative solutions to hard problems.

Posted by maya
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 16, 2012 at 2:30 pm

Mountain View is the best town to live in! Hope Dojo raises the funds to fulfill its obligation to the city codes, and continues to thrive here in Mountain View. We've got an amazing community. A peaceful, tech loving community. Best Luck!

Posted by NoNeckJoe
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 16, 2012 at 5:38 pm

+1 To Geo at least attempting to set Sean straight.

@Sean: This isn't a "to each their own" kind of thing. We are talking about facts here. The way you are portraying the Dojo is entirely incorrect. I work for a network security company and the kinds of things the Dojo folks are working on puts them squarely in the "good guys" camp. You appear threatened by them because you have no idea what's going on there. What about the "reviews on Yelp"? They have 4 stars. Sounds like it's not the scene for a few people that gave it low reviews...but I see nothing on Yelp (or anywhere) supporting your theory of nefarious activity occurring there.

Posted by Local Supporter
a resident of Castro City
on Jul 16, 2012 at 10:59 pm

Why is the building owner not responsible for bringing the space up to code? Are there higher requirements due to a larger community? If I were to lease the space for a new startup, would I be required to update the bathrooms? Seems a bit odd.

Posted by USA
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 17, 2012 at 11:34 am

Build space used for offices or events have different fire safety requirements than space used solely for warehousing. With a large number of people and wiring all over the place, the Dojo really needs to get up to code for its current space usage.

As far as ADA compliance, who knows. Its like Obamacare, no one person knows all of what is in there.

A few years ago, I had office space in a two story building on Villa St. There were steps to the second floor but no elevator. We were still required to make the bathrooms on the second floor ADA compliant, though no wheelchair could get to the second floor.

Posted by USA
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jul 17, 2012 at 11:43 am

@Sean - the term "hacker" has several meanings. Yes, one of them refers people who break into computers to steal passwords and credit card numbers. Do you really think that such criminals would form a public association? [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]
The other meaning for hacker is someone who writes code for fun. The term derives from a "hack" writer, but with a positive connotation.

The Hacker Dojo is a place for people to meet to talk about and work on code and to plan the next bizzilion dollar start-up. If you feel the need for a pejorative, you can think of it as a social club for nerds.

Posted by sean
a resident of Sylvan Park
on Jul 18, 2012 at 8:12 pmsean is a registered user.

@Local Supporter, NoNeckJoe, and USA.....Why you guys take this so serious and feel the need to bash? You think all the people at the Dojo are "innocent" and have "good intentions", you my friends are the ignorant ones. Throw around words like connotation, pejorative, nefarious, and my favorite "next bizillion dollar start-up".Then post comments that are removed cause "[Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]" and im the dumb one? I back the city of Mountain View and no exception should be made for any business or "social clubs for nerds", All the same to me.